Common Typographical Errors

The firstmost
common error is two spaces after a period. Most of us had a "Miss
Davis" as our typing teacher, who drilled us over and over
to think:

period -- space -- space

With all due respect to "Miss Davis" and typing teachers
everywhere, when you aretypesetting a document,
you should only use one space after a punctuation mark, never
two. You need to change your thinking to:

period -- space

The reason for this is quite simple. On (most) typewriters
you have a fixed-width typeface. To get a reasonable distinction
between word endings and sentence endings, you need to have two
spaces. When you are typesetting a document, you are using proportional type. Each
letter has its own width and space around it. The punctuation
marks are also designed with the appropriate space.

If you have a document with two (or more) spaces after punctuation
marks, you can perform a "search and replace" in your
word processor. Simply search for <space><space> and
replace with <space>. Repeat this several times until your
search function returns a "unable to find" message.

The secondmost
common error is the failure to use "curly" quotes. (Some
programs may refer to these as typographer's quotes.) Unfortunately,
the limitations of the Internet do not allow us to use "curly"
quotes in e-mail or on web pages. Perhaps, some day that will
change. Some examples:

Not:"Damn
the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

but:Damn
the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Similarly, curly apostrophes also need
to be used:

Not: Don't do that.

but: Dont do that.

Many word processing programs have a "smart quotes"
feature that will automatically insert the appropriate quote mark
or apostrophe. However, you need to be careful in two special
situations. First, when you are referring to feet and inches,
you should use the prime or double prime symbol, but "straight"
quotes (e.g. 3'6") will work in a pinch. Second, the
smart quotes feature will usually get it wrong with abbreviated
dates:We should use 96 for
1996.In this case, the leading character
is an apostrophe, not a single opening quote ().

If you already have a document filled with straight quotes
instead of curly quotes, then you can use "search and replace"
to fix them. Or, if you import the document into a page layout
program such as InDesign, Quark Xpress, or PageMaker, these programs
can fix this problem as the file is placed. (You may need to adjust
preferences in the import filter used.) If you use the import
filter in a page layout program be sure to manually fix the opening
single quote vs. apostrophe problem as described.

Other holdovers from typing class -- to be avoided with true
typesetting:

Use of underline instead of bold
or italic type. The typewriter had no way to emphasize
type except to underline it. Properly typeset work uses bold
and italic for emphasis. Underlines are avoided
as they will strike through the descenders of the lower case letters
g, j, p, q, and y, making an ugly display. When an "underline"
is required, typographers use a rule placed below the area where
descenders will extend.

Half-inch indents were used with the
typewriter. I can recall "Miss Davis" saying, "Remember,
use 5 spaces for your indent." With the typical "pica"
spacing typewriter, this was a half inch. Most word processors
have a default of a tab stop every half inch. This is another
carryover from the days of typewriters. Typographers normally
use 1 "em space" or 2 "em spaces" for an indent.
The em-space is proportional to the point size of each particular
typeface and is roughly equivalent to the width of the letter
"M" of each typeface. An indent of a quarter inch is
a reasonable approximation of the 1 or 2 em-space indent.

Additional signs of a non-professional publication

Use of a word processor instead of a page layout
program. See the article "Why use a page
layout program" for a discussion.

Uneven spacing in ellipses points (that's
the three or four periods often used to indicate an interrupted
thought or words skipped in quoted material). When used, ellipses
should have an even space between each one. Using a page layout
program, you can fix the spacing with "non-breaking"
spaces between each one or you can select and set a particular
spacing with the type control features. The Mac offers a fixed
ellipses character with three points. This works well (and never
gets broken across two lines (a typographical disaster). However,
some ellipses require a fourth point (period) or a comma to maintain
proper grammar. So, even the fixed ellipses ends up a failure
when the fourth punctuation point is improperly spaced in relation
to the others.

Excessive use of bold or italics in long passages.
This may also suggest poor editorial control. Often, an author
uses italics to indicate thoughts as contrasted with words spoken
by a character. While this is effective in short phrases or sentences,
if a character gives rather long expository passages in this manner,
it might be better for an author to either devise a different
way to provide the reader with the material or to choose another
way to contrast thoughts from spoken words.

Narrow margins, equal on all sides.
The typical non-professional often tries to get too much material
onto each page. The eye needs the "relief" of unprinted
areas to make reading and comprehension easier. In addition, the
long history of books (over 1000 years including the era before
printing and movable type) has developed an expectation of certain
design constraints. Reading the many books on typography and book
design you will find little agreement on specific measurements.
However, in general, the consensus is that the bottom margin should
be the largest, followed by the outside, top, and inside (gutter)
margin. In my experience I suggest that the inside (gutter) margin
should not be less than 5/8 inch and is better at 3/4 inch. With
that as a starting point, a top margin of .835 inch, outside margin
of .875, and a bottom margin of between .975 and one inch is a
reasonable minimum starting point for most books with an overall
trim size less than 6 x 9 inches. Larger books can use proportionally
larger margins.

Page decorations used to excess. Various
typographic decorations (usually called dingbats) may be used
to indicate gaps in the action, the time line, or a change of
scene. (Manuscripts tend to use three asterisks centered in a
line to signal those situations.) The inexperienced often get
carried away with the "fun" symbols and use them to
excess. (Restraint and appropriateness are the catchwords.) The
other mistake is to never use decorative symbols, simply
leaving "* * *" as the indicator. In addition to Zapf
Dingbats (or Wingdings), most of the better book layout fonts
have a few special symbols that might be appropriate to a particular
book. The well-crafted book will use something that enhances the
visual experience and support the story. (For example, in a historical
novel about California Indians, a symbol, based on a petroglyph,
was devised to be the break indicator. In another book, with a
central theme involving Greek heritage, a short line of interlocking
squares similar to those seen at the top edge of Greek temples
was used.) This is a place where the book designer can use a small
element and enhance the visual imagery that helps to support the
story.

Multiple typefaces -- "Ransom Note"
style. In general, it's best to stick to no more than two
typeface families in any publication; although there may be situations
where a third typeface is necessary. One typeface should be selected
for the body text. A typeface from the Oldstyle classification
of serif typefaces is generally a good choice. A contrasting sans
serif, usually from the Humanist classification makes a nice contrast
for headlines and titles. If the material requires a third typeface,
then something that clearly contrasts with the other selections
is a good choice. You never want to have the reader think that
you tried to "match" a typeface -- and failed.
Contrasts should be obvious and made with a purpose in mind.

Wide variation in letter- and wordspace.
This is usually related to the use of a word processor instead
of a page layout program. But, even page layout programs may not
provide the best typography with their default settings. Adjustments
to the internal default program settings, with respect to each
typeface used, are often necessary. A typical adjustment, using
PageMaker as an example, is to go to the "Paragraph..."
item on the Type menu. Within that dialog, click on the box entitled
"Spacing..." You'll find allowable ranges for Word Space
and Letter Space. A suggested starting point for word space is
minimum of 85% and a maximum of 125% (Quark Xpress defaults at
50%/200% -- way too loose). Try the letter spacing at minimum
0% and a maximum of 15%. If you're using InDesign, you'll also
have an option to set "glyph scaling". While it is normally
inappropriate to modify the width of the glyphs (letters), if
the modification isn't visible to the eye, then I say, why not?
I usually set glyph scaling to 98% minimum and 102% maximum or
99%/101% depending on the typeface.

No hyphenation not only with fully justified
text but with ragged-right text as well. Ragged-right text should
still have a relatively even right margin (to avoid having a gap-toothed
look) so hyphenation is important with both styles of text layout.
Without hyphenation, fully justified text will be filled with
obviously loose lines that even the least aware individual will
notice. (Aside from simply looking bad, wide variations in word/letter
spacing can make reading slower and reduce comprehension. Hyphenation
is related to the justification settings in most page layout programs,
or you may need to visit a separate Hyphenation menu item. Turn
on automatic hyphenation and set the limit to two or three consecutive
hyphens. (If offered) I tend to select dictionary based hyphenation
as the (usual other choice) algorithm based hyphenation can create
instances of words with inappropriate hyphenation. (The downside
of dictionary hyphenation is that words not in the dictionary
may not be hyphenated when it is appropriate. Personally, I prefer
to look for loose lines and manually insert (discretionary) hyphens
when necessary. Others may rather just look for words that shouldn't
be hyphenated or that might require a different hyphenation based
on the spelling or pronunciation.) Note that most university presses
place the limit at two consecutive hyphens in text and most large
trade presses set the limit to three consecutive lines endings
with hyphens. Do not leave the consecutive hyphens dialog without
setting a limit of either two or three. Text with four or more
consecutive hyphens is highly distracting.

Obvious attempts
to stretch the length of a book using oversized margins,
too-large type, or excessive leading (line to line spacing). I'm
sure that those reading this may have tried one or more of these
techniques to fool an English or history teacher on an assignment
that had to be (say) 10 pages when there was only 9 pages
of material. It usually didn't work when we were in school and
it won't work now, as the readers will notice and feel annoyed
if not cheated. Some more legitimate means to increase the length
of a work are to always start chapters on a right-hand page, take
some extra space for chapter titles (but no more than about half
a page), take an extra page for the start of a section, or insert
helpful quotes or important statements on pages by themselves.
These items add value to the extra space used by making a design
more consistent or to emphasize organization or important thoughts.
Certainly, some of the techniques, when used below the
level of obviousness, are acceptable.

No index (or a poorly done index) in
a non-fiction work. Any book that might be used in a reference
mode should have an index. That would include most non-fiction,
instructive books. (An index may be less important or not required
for non-fiction memoirs or a true story about some event.) An
author may be able to create a usable index, particularly if they
have some experience with that task. However, it's generally most
beneficial to hire a professional indexer. Indexing is a specialty
within editing. Most editors are not indexers. While many indexers
may have editing experience, most will specialize and devote themselves
to the creation of indexes rather than doing more general editing
tasks. Keep in mind that the capability of some word processors
to "index" every word used in a document does not create
a true index. (Technically, such a list is a concordance, not
an index.) Good indexing involves identifying concepts, which
may take several words to describe and may also need several cross
references. It may even require using words or phrases that don't
appear in the book at all!

Use of Helvetica (Arial) or Times Roman. These
typefaces are the "standard" on all laser printers and
are often in the default style sheet for many word processors.
While there is nothing inherently "wrong" with these
(or any other typeface) they are simply overused. When you encounter
these typefaces, your subconscious reaction is normally one of
boredom. Times was designed for the narrow columns of the Times
of London newspaper. The wider measure commonly used in books
makes Times Roman an uncomfortable choice. Helvetica (and the
analog Arial) are not particularly distinguished sans serif typefaces.
They suffer from overuse and are further stigmatized by being
used on many government forms, including those from the dreaded
IRS.

A note about Helvetica and Arial: These two typefaces
are called analogs of each other. Helvetica was created in the
early 1950s by a designer at the Merganthaler-Linotype company
for use with their proprietary typesetting equipment. Eventually,
Helvetica was digitized and licensed for use with computers and
laser printers. There is a long history of typefaces designed
for one proprietary typesetting machine being adapted by competing
typesetting machine manufacturers to run on their proprietary
equipment. (You could not, for example, buy a typeface for a Linotype
to use on a Compugraphics typesetter. They were simply incompatible.)
In the era of desktop publishing and general purpose computers,
the typefaces from many companies were digitized for use with
Macintosh and MS-DOS/Windows computers. Since most libraries had
proprietary versions that duplicated competitors typefaces, these
have reached us as very similar (to identical) typefaces with
different names. Arial is the Monotype Company's analog of Linotype's
Helvetica. A letter-by-letter comparison will show these typefaces
have almost no significant differences. Microsoft contracted with
the Monotype Company to prepare several analog typefaces to be
distributed with the Windows software to replace Helvetica, Palatino,
Avant Garde and others. The result was Arial, Book Antigua, and
Century Gothic -- designed to be direct replacements for the originals
and to have the exact same character widths, etc.

While there was some controversy (at the time they were introduced)
about the totality of the duplication, there are no legal constraints
on such design choices. Names of typefaces can be protected
by trade mark, but the actual shapes of the letters are,
as a matter of law, not subject to copyright or trade mark protection.
After these controversial typefaces were introduced, the International
Typography Association (Association Typographique International
or "Atypl") established ethical guidelines suggesting
that competitors should wait 2 years before introducing analogs
of newly introduced typefaces. A U.S. Supreme Court decision (several
years ago) also established that the software that underlies
digital typefaces is protected by copyright. A competitor
desiring to make an analog must (at the very least) scan and redraw
the letters. They can not (legally) open an existing font file
with an editing program and delete evidence of the source and
insert their own identification.

There are many other typography
issues in creating a professional book. The publications designers
and typographers at Æonix Publishing
Group can help you with producing your book. We can give
you advice, as a consultant, or we can produce a complete camera-ready
book for you. We also can design covers and marketing materials
for your book. In addition, we can help you prepare RFQs for printers
and evaluate the bids you receive and give you guidance in marketing
and distributing your book.